All parties working together
The Dove Lane project in St Paul’s, Bristol, encouraged a collaborative approach in two ways: an innovativecommunity consultation plan engaged the public, while the development partners signed a Planning Performance Agreement (PPA).By Jim Weddell, urban design director at RPS
In October 2006 RPS won a limited competition with a design for an innovative, mixed use, inner city regeneration proposal on a ten-acre site in central Bristol owned by a partnership of Places for People and the PG Group. This project is the subject of the first Planning Performance Agreement (PPA) in the UK, between Bristol City Council and the developers. The proposal would create a new neighbourhood comprising 90,000m_ of development including 700 new homes, and 2,000 new jobs focused around delivering open space in the heart of the community.
The design has identified an opportunity for a landmark tall building creating a ‘gateway’ into Bristol. It is at street level that it this appears most successful, providing links to the surrounding settlement, new cultural, educational and civic facilities and an imaginative public realm. Innovation in approach has enabled RPS to optimise the opportunity by providing a one-stop-shop delivering project management, planning and design in-house.
Planning Performance Agreements (PPAs)
The Government introduced the concept of the Planning Performance Agreements (PPAs) through a consultation paper launched in May 2007. PPAs are designed to replace ‘Planning Delivery Agreements’ as a means of providing greater certainty with regard to the speed and quality of large planning application assessments and decisions.
Around the same time, Bristol City Council established a Major Projects Team to handle ‘super major’ applications within the city. The council sought to engage with applicants for these schemes through a PPA, with a view to settling certain processes through planning applications.
Following initial meetings with council officers, our clients agreed to enter into a PPA with the city council to establish the following matters:
- Appointed case officer and officer team;
- Key contacts within the applicant/consultant team;
- Principles for public consultation;
- Principles for consultation with officers and statutory consultees;
- Regular topic-based meetings with officers;
- Key issues relevant to the planning application;
- The planning application package;
- A programme for preparation of the planning application.
An inception day was held prior to the signing of the PPA; a range of stakeholders attended the event, which was managed through an ‘independent chair’. This provided a unique opportunity for a range of interested parties to be briefed on the initial proposals and the process, to provide initial feedback and establish a dialogue with the applicants and consultant team.
Following the signing of the PPA, meetings have been held with officers every three weeks to discuss key issues highlighted within the PPA. The meetings are attended by the case officer, with invitations to relevant statutory consultees to discuss particular key issues.
Officers are kept informed of the progress of the project and the programme is updated accordingly.
The PPA has proved to be a useful project management tool to manage the preparation of the application for Dove Lane. The PPA enables an open and transparent dialogue between officers and the applicants with a clear understanding of the expectations of all parties.
Whilst the PPA places no commitment upon the Local Authority to grant planning permission for the scheme, it should ensure that all procedures are carried out to an agreed standard and the applicants are aware of any critical issues at an early stage. This should ensure the applicants can take an informed decision on how to proceed with the planning application at the earliest opportunity. Further, the PPA has generated a response from CABE, which welcomes an early review at the conceptual stage of the project.
Speaking for Bristol Council, Gary Collins, Major Scheme Co-ordination & Enforcement Manager, recommended the use of a PPA when appropriate.
‘It’s a “cards on the table” approach that fosters public and private sectors collaboration,’ he says. ‘For strategic sites with a complex planning policy context, PPAs are a positive step. They can be resource-heavy and take time to get in place, and require major commitment from both sides, but are extremely useful for clarifying stakeholder positions.’
Getting past ‘consultation fatigue’A public consultation began in spring 2007 with an exhibition and distribution of 6,500 leaflets and questionnaires to residents within St Paul’s and the neighbouring areas. Public exhibitions were held in St Paul’s on Saturdays. At this stage, we were not presenting any formal proposals but seeking residents views on what they would like to see developed on the site – housing, quality of the environment, provision of employment uses and the provision of open space.
The relatively low response to such widespread publicity may have been a result of ‘consultation fatigue’. Residents had been consulted on several policy documents and community plans for the area – and the site – in recent years.
A second stage of consultation was held in May/June 2007 at which three development options were presented for comment. The options were all based on the same quantum of floor space and the same site area. The differences between the options arose through variance in building height and the amount of public open space created by the proposals. The proposals were accompanied by a questionnaire setting out a number of detailed questions, and were presented publicly through public exhibitions and the distribution of leaflets to residents.
Whilst these consultation events were being held, a series of monthly meetings was set up with the local community partnership (St Paul’s Unlimited). These were widened to include a number of key stakeholders and local community groups and were open to the public. They have proved productive, giving early indications of issues arising through the community groups and seeking a resolution of detailed matters relating to the scheme. However, it is important to ensure that it is made clear whose views are being represented at these meetings, whether it be the entire community, local community partnership or an individual.
Further consultations will be held in 2008. It is likely that the strategy for consultation will be amended to reflect lessons learnt. In particular, we may look at other ways of engaging the community, such as door-to-door surveys to achieve a better response to questionnaire distribution. Where possible, the meetings with the community group will be widened to include a greater range of bodies to achieve a wider range of views on the proposals.
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